


With This Ring

by annaxmims



Series: Tumblr Prompts [132]
Category: 9-1-1: Lone Star (TV 2020)
Genre: Established Carlos Reyes/TK Strand, Established Relationship, Fluff, Internal Conflict, Light Angst, M/M, Marriage Proposal, Mentions of Cancer, Past Drug Addiction, Past Relationship(s), Same-Sex Marriage, Wedding Fluff, mentions of drug addiction
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-16
Updated: 2020-12-16
Packaged: 2021-03-10 23:08:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,423
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28115148
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/annaxmims/pseuds/annaxmims
Summary: Tumblr Prompt:Can you write Carlos finally proposing to TK, and he does it in a really cute way involving all of the fire fam and relatives and continue into the wedding?Maybe have TK talking to his dad and mom about how he never thought he'd actually get a wedding day after the Alex disaster.
Relationships: Carlos Reyes/TK Strand, Judd Ryder & TK Strand, Michelle Blake & TK Strand, Owen Strand & TK Strand
Series: Tumblr Prompts [132]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1626286
Comments: 6
Kudos: 136





	With This Ring

TK stared at himself in the mirror and adjusted his tie for the fifteenth time in the last thirty seconds.

“TK, chill out,” Judd said from his seat on the couch. “I can feel your anxiety kid. It’s all gonna be fine. You look great, everything looks great outside, stop stressing.”

TK nodded and ran a hand through his hair, which got him a slap on the hand from Michelle.

“Stop it,” she scolded, fixing his strands back.

“Hey, guys, how about we clear out for a little bit, give TK some space,” Judd suggested in a tone that made it clear it really wasn’t a suggestion.

Mateo and Paul followed Judd out of the room and Michelle placed a gentle kiss on his cheek before leaving and shutting the door behind her.

TK sighed and slumped onto the couch. He felt lightheaded but he was too nervous to even think about eating. His wedding was in less than an hour and every shred of sanity he had left was disappearing quickly.

He jumped when there was a knock on the door and his dad poked his head in.

“Calm down kiddo. Just me and your mom. Can we come in?”

“Yeah.”

Owen entered, followed by Gwen, both of them dressed and ready.

“Judd said you were having a crisis,” his mom said, taking a seat next to him and holding his hand.

“Maybe a little.”

“What’s wrong? Are you having second thoughts?” Owen sat on the table in front of him so he could put a hand on his knee. He looked like he was having a good day, there was color in his cheeks and he seemed stronger. He was in remission but the drugs that he took to keep cancer from coming back still gave him fits.

“No. Maybe. I don’t know. I know I want to spend the rest of my life with Carlos, but part of me wants to run away and never look back.”

“That’s the nerves talking sweetheart,” Gwen said. “When your dad and I got married I was sick the whole morning I was so nervous.”

“But you and Dad got a divorce.”

“Yes. But that doesn’t mean I didn’t love him. Sometimes marriages just don’t work out. We both had our own struggles and when we separated we wanted different things. But that marriage gave us you and I will never regret that.”

“How do I know me and Carlos will survive?”

“You can't know for sure,” Owen said truthfully, never one to try and lie to his son. “But you’ve made it this far. And I think this might help.”

Owen handed him a folded up piece of paper and he immediately recognized his name in Carlos’ neat handwriting. 

“You spend some time with that. I’ll be back in thirty minutes to get you and if you really want to run away, I’ll tell Judd to have the get-away car ready.”

TK laughed, knowing that it was a joke, but that he was also completely serious.

“Thanks, Dad.”

Owen kissed the top of his head and led Gwen from the room, leaving TK in the quiet with Carlos’ letter.

He should have known Carlos would write one. He’d had Judd slip the letter he’d written to Carlos under his door earlier that day.

He unfolded it and he almost started crying before he even started reading it.

_ Tyler, _

_ Happy wedding day baby. I know you’re nervous, don’t try to deny it, I know you are. And that’s okay. No matter how unprepared you think you are, we’re ready for this. We’ve survived more in the last two years than most couples do in their entire marriage. I want to do this with you TK. From the moment I met you, I was gone. You are the only man for me Tyler Kennedy and I’ll spend the rest of my life doing my best to show you how much I love you. Stop messing with your hair, you look great (I don’t even have to see you, I just know). I’ll see you soon. I love you, Tiger. _

_ -Carlos. _

TK wiped a stray tear and laughed a little at the letter. Some sections were identical to the notes he’d left on the day he proposed

*****

TK had woken up, cold and confused, to find that Carlos had already left their bed. In Carlos’ usual spot on the bed, there was a bright pink sticky note stuck to his pillow.

_ Good morning baby. I know you’re wondering where I am and you’ll find out soon, but first I have a little game planned for you. Go to our and find the next note _

Of course, Carlos was cheesy enough to do a scavenger hunt. TK rolled his eyes in fondness at his boyfriend and rolled out of bed. He opened the closet door and looked for a minute before finding another brightly colored sticky note on top of a pile of folded clothes.

_ Put this on, then go downstairs _

TK dressed in the clothes Carlos had picked out. Black jeans, a soft blue button-down, and black sneakers. He deviated from Carlos’ instructions a bit to stop in the bathroom and brush his teeth, then continued downstairs. He looked at himself in the mirror for a moment, fiddling with his hair to make sure it was perfect. Whatever Carlos had planned, it was important if he’d gone to this much trouble. 

Stuck to the door of the fridge was a blue sticky note.

_ Eat breakfast and then head to the station _

_ PS. Since I forgot to write it on the first note, I love you and you look good (I don’t have to see you, I just know) _

TK had to laugh again, Carlos was such a dork. He quickly ate a bowl of cereal, then grabbed his keys and headed to the station. 

When he walked in, the station seemed empty, except for Judd who gave him a knowing smile, then pointed to the stairs. The railing was covered with notes with arrows drawn on them, leading him up to his dad’s office.

His dad was sitting at his desk when TK walked in.

“Morning son.”

“Hey Dad, do you know what’s going on?”

“Not a clue. But I do have this for you,” Owen produced another note and handed it to TK.

_ Go to the place where we had our first real date _

“Thanks, Dad,” TK called over his shoulder as he left.

He drove downtown to one of his and Carlos’ favorite restaurants. With their strange hookup, will they-won’t they nonsense at the beginning of their relationship; they'd had multiple “dates” but they decided that their dinner at Mary’s Diner downtown was their actual first date.

When he arrived he took a seat at the booth where he and Carlos had sat on their date.

He’d barely been there five minutes when the waitress put a vanilla milkshake in front of him. On their date, he and Carlos had shared one, just like all of the cliche romantic movies.

He drank his milkshake and scrolled through his phone. When he finished, he realized that there was a note stuck under the glass. 

He had to squint to make it out through the bottom of the cup, but luckily for him, it was two words.

_ Solar storm _

He knew that meant to go outside of town, where he and Carlos had gone after the solar storm and seen the northern lights. 

With all the driving around and clue following he’d been doing, it was late afternoon by the time he’d made it to the field twenty minutes out of town.

He spotted Carlos’ Camaro, but no Carlos. As he approached the car, he realized there was a box sitting on the hood, tied up in ribbon with a note attached.

_ Open me _

TK opened the box to find another, smaller one inside. This one was covered in velvet and he recognized it as a ring box immediately. His hands shook and his heart had migrated to his throat as he opened the box.

The note inside was simple,

_ Turn around _

TK took a deep breath as he turned around, finding Carlos behind him on one knee.

His dad, Carlos’ mom, and sisters, and the rest of the crew were standing in a semi-circle behind him.

Before Carlos could say anything TK was already saying yes, flinging himself at Carlos.

Carlos caught him easily, standing up and holding him just off the ground.

“You know I had a whole speech right?” Carlos laughed against his ear.

“I don’t need a speech. You’ve had me chasing notes all day.”

Carlos laughed and pulled away so he could slide the ring on his finger.

“I love you,” TK whispered.

“I love you more,” Carlos lifted his hand and kissed him on the new silver band on his ring finger.

*****

When Owen came back, TK folded the note and tucked it inside the pocket of his jacket, right over his heart.

“Are you ready?”

“So ready.”

“I knew that would help,” Owen held out his arm and TK took it letting his dad lead him to the back door of the venue.

He couldn’t see much through the frosted glass of the patio doors. If he tilted his head just right he could see his mom in the front row, and Judd standing up at the altar on the side where TK would soon be standing. He spotted Carlos’ cousin in the audience with a tall blonde man and a little curly-headed boy. Michelle was standing next to Carlos, whose figure was distorted through the glass, but TK knew he looked amazing. 

The soft notes of acoustic guitar began to filter through the doors and the audience stood. The doors opened and Owen led him down the aisle.

He couldn’t take his eyes off of Carlos and he could feel the smile that was threatening to split his face in half. Judd was making a valiant effort not to cry, but he wasn’t doing well. Carlos had already given into the tears, even as his smile never left his face.

He took TK’s hand from Owen’s arm and brought him to stand next to him.

“Take good care of my boy Carlos,” Owen said.

“I always have.”

“I know,” Owen patted his very soon to be son-in-law on the arm and took his place next to TK’s mom.

TK felt like there was cotton in his ears, he couldn’t hear anything that was going on around him. He had tunnel vision, focused only on Carlos’ face.

Luckily his hearing came back online just as Carlos began to read his vows.

“TK,” he started. “I won’t say your whole name because I know you hate that. From the very moment that I met you, I was head over heels. I knew that you were the only person that I would ever need. And that’s still true. You changed my life. You’re a hurricane in the best possible way. You’re my best friend and my favorite person to be around. If the last few years with you have taught me anything, it's that life is short, and as cheesy as it sounds, we both know it’s true. Our jobs are proof of that. I can’t promise you that I’ll always be here, we both learned a long time ago not to make promises we can’t keep. But what I can promise is that I will love you until I physically can’t anymore. You are my forever TK, and I can’t wait to spend it with you.”

TK wiped a tear and tried to compose himself before he started speaking.

“I’m gonna try to make it through this without crying but so far that’s not going well,” Carlos laughed a little and reached out to wipe his tears. “Carlos, when I met you, I had given up on love. I thought that love was something you only saw in movies or read about in books. I’d had my heart ripped out and stomped on. I had completely given up. I didn’t think love was in the cards for me, let alone marriage. But you came along and you changed that. You made me love you, even when I didn’t think I wanted to, and you taught me to love myself again. I am who I am right now, because of you Carlos. I love you so much that it hurts and I never want that feeling to go away. I want to feel like this for the rest of my life. I love you more than anything Carlos, and if I don’t get to kiss you soon I might go crazy.”

Carlos laughed, looking like he was seconds away from defying tradition and kissing him then and there.

“On that note, let’s speed things up a little. The rings.”

Judd handed TK his ring and Michelle handed Carlos his. Both of them were using the engagement rings they’d bought for each other, and TK was excited to have it back on his hand. He almost felt naked without it. 

They slipped the rings onto each other’s fingers and kept their hands clasped tightly together.

“I guess there’s only one thing left to do. You may now kiss your husband.”

Carlos pulled him in close, kissing him as passionately as he dared in front of all their friends and family.

They pulled away breathless, and TK took Carlos’ hand as they turned to face the crowd.

“I present to you for the first time, Mr. and Mr. Strand-Reyes.”

*****

The music from the reception was loud, but TK could care less as he snuggled further into Carlos' side. They’d snatched champagne and snacks from the reception before retreating into the room where TK had gotten ready.

Carlos fed him another strawberry before leaning down to kiss him, chasing the sweetness off of his lips.

“My face hurts from smiling,” he said.

“Mine too. You know, after Alex, I never thought I’d have a wedding day. But this, it’s better than anything I could have imagined.”

“I’m glad.”

Carlos pulled him in close, strong arms around TK’s shoulders. 

He knew they’d have to rejoin their friends and family soon. There was cake to be cut, which he was definitely planning to smash in Carlos’ face, and pictures to be taken, but for now, he was content to cuddle with him on a far too small couch, soaking up their first few minutes as husbands.


End file.
